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Sean wasted no time. Leaving Emma and Jake at the foot of the stairs leading to her apartment, he turned and took off toward the entrance. The first thing to do was to question the workers.
"While Sean is interrogating the workers, I'm going to call Zoe and find out where she took Dixie for her walk."
"Ask her if she noticed the puppy picking up the bag, too," Jake suggested.
Emma nodded in agreement, and moments later, talked to Zoe. The conversation was brief but unsettling. After thanking Zoe and promising to fill her in on the details the next day, Emma said goodbye and then grabbed Dixie's leash from the hook by the door. Seeing her movements, the young puppy wasted no time, and was at her feet, tail wagging, waiting to go outside. Dixie had learned quickly the rule of being on a leash and knew they would reward good behavior with a tasty treat. Smiling as she hooked the leash to Dixie's collar, Emma rewarded her and turned to Jake.
"Let's take a stroll down to the end of the pier. I want to look around the area."
"Sure. What did Zoe say that's got you all worked up?"
"Let's go to the pier. I'll tell you when we get there."
Emma's tone didn't invite an argument, and there was an undertone of unease that Jake couldn't miss. Zoe had told Emma something that bothered Emma, and he followed her lead, eager to find out what was going on.
Dixie's nose was working overtime as they made their way to the end of the pier, but Emma remained silent. When they reached the bench, Emma sank into it heavily and turned back to look at her apartment, staring intently at the windows and doors. Jake said nothing for a moment, but Emma's silence made him nervous.
"What's up, Emma? What did Zoe say to make you so upset?"
Emma gave an involuntary shiver and looked at her friend pointing to her apartment before answering.
"She swears Dixie wasn't out of her sight. And other than walking from the office to my apartment, Dixie was inside the whole time. She would've remembered if the puppy picked up something, especially in that color."
The two friends stared at each other for a moment, and then Jake put into words what she was feeling and fearing. "That the only way Dixie could've gotten the bag was to have found it in your apartment."
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too. And that means somebody was in my apartment and left the bag. Either to implicate me or to warn me. But either way, I've had an unwelcome guest."
Jake jumped to his feet, his face red with anger. "We need to tell Sean about this. Maybe one worker noticed somebody around the house."
"Whoever did this made sure that they fit in with the workers, perhaps posing as a delivery person or passing himself off as a friend dropping off something. I don't think the workers are going to remember anything out of the ordinary."
Emma's prediction was correct. Sean wasted no time questioning each person on site a second time, this time with his questions directed at the possibility of somebody climbing the stairs to the second floor and entering Emma's apartment. But regardless of his probing, nobody could remember anything. Everybody had been busy with their work, trying to get the Christmas decorations up and completed by the end of the workday. As he continued to question, it became apparent that they were getting restless and irritable with the repeated questioning. Sean had taken a few notes from the workers, but he realized it was futile at this point and he dismissed the workers to get back to their job, knowing he would get nothing more out of them.
While Sean was busy questioning the workers, Jake and Emma returned to her apartment to conduct their own investigation. Dixie, eager and curious, sniffed around, her ears almost dragging on the floor as they moved things out of the way.
"There's nothing here to find, Jake." Emma walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water for each of them and then sank to the kitchen table, her shoulders slumped with discouragement.
"Well, whoever did it is bold. To walk in here in broad daylight with the place crawling with people calls for pretty steady nerves."
Emma was silent for a moment, and then slowly her lips twitched at the corners, and this slight smile appeared.
"Or just arrogant enough to not care? Someone is used to having their way and not being questioned. Could this be anybody we know?"
Jake thought for a moment and then he returned her smile. He whipped out his phone and quickly sent a text explaining as he did, "Kim is planning on interviewing Wendy. I don't know anybody who fits the bill of your description any better. I just asked Kim to subtly see if Wendy was out here at your house today."
"Ask her if she can meet us at Susie's in about an hour. I'm sure she'll be done with her interview by then," Emma suggested.
"I'll send her the message but won't be able to meet you guys. I have something else I need to check out. We'll get together tomorrow and go over what we come up with. This will give you a chance to get to know Kim better, anyway," Jake said.
"Good idea. Have to admit I like Kim. The three of us have the makings of a good detective team."
Before Jake could answer her, Sean appeared at the doorway, a concerned look on his face.
"Listen, I got nowhere. But I want you to take this as a warning. Doors locked. Gate closed. No taking any chances, Emma. Keep your eyes and ears open. I am going back to the station to see if there are any other developments. Jake, keep an eye on Emma."
"And who's going to keep an eye on him?" Emma laughed. Then seeing how serious Sean was, she sobered up and quickly agreed to be careful. Moments later, they could hear his heavy feet going down the stairs.
"Listen, before I go, I'm going to head over to the office and make some adjustments to the security system. Just a few tweaks that will concentrate more on your apartment than in some of the other areas."
Emma gave a nod of agreement. She knew Jake had a major input on the installation of the security system and trusted both his skill and judgment.
"Then I'm going to head over to Susie's. I'll wait for Kim there. I don't think anybody will be back. They've done their damage, casting suspicion on me and sending me a subtle warning."
"Yeah, and a fat lot of good that warning's going to do." Jake shook his head, and then followed Emma out the door, making sure she shut it firmly and watched as she locked it behind them. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Emma headed to her car and Jake headed to the main office.